Thanks so much for dropping in! Okay - so you want to know a little more about us? Well, here we are! Papa Dick and Nana Ellen live in the state of California, in the good old US of A.

These photos were taken in summer of '06

I've always loved horses. It's in my blood. Granddad Cline raised horses for the US Calvary when Daddy was a boy. They ranched in Saguache, Colorado, where Granddad was one of the first Forest Rangers in the Rio Grande National Forest. His photo hangs in the Saguache County Museum cheek by jowl with that infamous Colorado man-eater, Albert Packer.

Dad and his two brothers (they were Babe, Boots and Baldy) wrangled and broke horses from the time they were big enough to crawl aboard and hang on. Both of the girls (Margaret and Hester) helped with the work too. But Grandma insisted they remain proper young ladies as well, so the really rough stuff was left to the boys. Although those girls could tell some hair-raising stories of their own.

So... lil ole me (right) always and forever Daddy's girl learned to love horses before she could reach the stirrups. Dad titled this shot "I had a pony, but he got away." He thought it was hilarious. Mom...not so much.

This little love, at the stables in Estes Park, Colorado, stomped down hard on my toes while trying to get out of my strangle hold. I have one flat toe to this day. Mom said he broke it. Dad said I was tough and would get over it. I said it was worth it 'cause I got to ride the pony!

If you look closely, you'll see the Stanley Hotel in the background. Ever read "The Shining"? That's the place. 

We lived seven miles south of Estes Park until I was in first grade. Dad worked for the US Forest Service, Mom ran a Guest Ranch, and I learned to be a horse woman. By all accounts I was five going on 35. An only child living among adults...I never did learn to play well with others.  On another note...should you read my story "Bootsey's Picnic" you'll notice a marked resembelance between the herione and lil ole e.

By the time this was taken (on my Uncle Baldy's ranch near Gunnison) we were living far from the Rocky Mountains, and life had changed dramatically. My two true loves remained... horses and Daddy.

So here I am, fifty something, and still in love with horses. Check out some equine sites on my design pages to see some of them. 

Nana Ellen's Stories 'n' Stuff has been online for over a decade and there have been hundreds of changes, tweaks and updates. I've given away graphics, sold greeting cards, designed web sites and so forth and so on. Recently my time is mostly spent traveling with Papa Dick, who retired in 2005 after forty plus years of teaching, working in our garden, cooking, painting, writing in a new novel and just enjoying life in general.

Most of the children (three adult sons) and grandchildren (there are nine now!) in our family live thousands of miles away. Many years ago when the first grandbaby was two and the second was on the way, Nana Ellen wrote the Sparrow's story. The idea was to share it with the kiddies to give them something from Nana's house as warm as hugs and cookies, but better able to survive the miles that separated us. The grandchildren could read the story and imagine what it might be like at Nana and Papa's house.

But visits were few, the children grew, and Nana and Papa were strangers who lived far, far away in the magical state near Disneyland. Nana Ellen, wrote another story, and then another, just because she loved doing it! Then Papa Dick got a 'puter, Nana Ellen found the " wonderful worldwide web", and we decided to offer our stories, our virtual hugs and our famous chocolate chip cookies 'n' stuff from Nana's house to a few more kids. That was several years, and several thousand kids, ago. Nowadays our own children and grandchildren are much too busy pursuing their own pursuits to be interested in Nana's web site... so... it is people like you who help to make it continually worthwhile.

It is my sincere hope that every visitor will find something here to touch their soul, warm their heart or bring a smile to their face. Come back often, and let us know you were here won't you.

P.S. Our sole purpose for sharing our stuff with you is to give you an enjoyable visit. So along that line, we have a tiny favor to ask... By now you will have noticed that we've included some links from each of our pages to other Web sites we think are special. We made every effort to review each one carefully. We want our place to be not only fun, but safe, for you, and anyone else who stops by, so if you find anything linked to us that you don't think should be here, please let us know about it right away. OK? I probably should mention an article we read in the local paper awhile back. It stated - any place on the WWW is only six (that's 6) clicks from every other place on the WWW!! We do our best, but keeping Nana's a safe place for everyone takes real determination. Won't you please help us accomplish our goal?